Graphics Cards Guide

NVIDIA's Midrange gets a Boost

NVIDIA's Midrange gets a Boost

Barely four months ago, NVIDIA stirred up their upper midrange segment (and that of their competitor's) with the GeForce 6800 GS, which single-handedly managed to 'obsolete' the rest of the GeForce 6800 series, namely the vanilla, GT and Ultra versions. While it did not literally obsolete those older GeForce 6800 variants and NVIDIA staying mum about the possibility, we have all witnessed the excellent price-to-performance ratio of the GeForce 6800 GS that has quietly retired the rest of the lot in terms of consumer buying appeal. After all, why settle for a plain GeForce 6800 when the GS version costs just a little more and performs just as well as the expensive GT incarnation. When overclocked, it can easily outclass the once awesome GeForce 6800 Ultra. As you can see, the once US$249 graphics card had so much going for it and has since spiraled down to the US$199 price rung, making it even more appetizing - at least until CeBIT 2006 came along.

CeBIT 2006 was NVIDIA's springboard for this year's initial salvo as it refreshed the GeForce 7 series in every segment. With updated high-end parts by the way of the GeForce 7900 GT and GeForce 7900 GTX (which we've very recently covered) and most importantly the entry of their new midrange part, the GeForce 7600 GT, the nearly two-year run of the GeForce 6 era has finally come to an end. The GeForce 7600 GT has been pegged with a suggested retail price of US$199 and this effectively takes over the position of the GeForce 6800 GS. But exactly how well does this newcomer fare in comparison to the infamous GeForce 6600 GT and would it better the GeForce 6800 GS? To answer that and other queries, we have with us the ASUS EN7600GT, the first GeForce 7600 GT to hit our labs. We'll take a close look at it in the following page, but first, it would be beneficial if you take a close look at the specs of the typical GeForce 7600 GT and how it compares to existing graphics card models:-